Xander focused most of his attention on their continued sparring, leaning mostly toward the SGC Spec Ops favored forms, laced with those of Section. But the rest of his attention was used to pick up on maybe two disturbances in his senses. Maneuvering around, he wasn't sure, but he began to get the feeling he was missing something familiar, and it was in his older and deeper Immortal memories and gnawed at this comfort level.
Doyle sipped his coffee and occasionally dipped a donut as he and the others watched the two teens push harder and harder until Xander signaled a breather.
"Excellent, Dawnie," he complimented the girl, "Now if we can get bladed weapons skills, you'll really start to round out. Doyle, how much do you recall of Fitzcairn's sword skills?" The Irishman shrugged as Dawn was verbally ambushed by the Scoobs about her ability.
"Dunno, really haven't had to use it," the man replied, "I'm willin to give it a try, but not at those speeds." He gestured to where Xander and Dawn had sparred at 'normal' vampire levels. Xander indicated a selection of swords and they slowly began. After a few moments, they broke off.
"Not bad at all Doyle," he complimented, "I'm thinking it'd only take a year to bring you back up in skill to a master's level." He gestured over to Willow.
"Miss Devereux," Xander greeted with a sword salute, "I would be honored if you selected a weapon and engaged me with it." Willow hesitated for a moment, then picked up not only a rapier but main-gauche to complement it. She kicked off her shoes and returned the salute, Buffy and Giles setting aside their interrogation of Dawn as the timid red-head began to move with a bit of grace and her face slowly blanked to give nothing away. For five minutes, Xander slowly brought up the level of speed and difficulty, soon finding Willow to have retained a lot of skill and expertise.
"Bien, mademoiselle," Xander complimented her as he trapped her sword onto a table, then gave her a quick peck on the cheek that allowed him to surprise her by rolling behind and dropping his weapon to entrap both her hands and the weapons in them.
"Excellent, Willow," Xander remarked, "Match over, coffee awaits us." With that he let her go, retrieved his sword, and offered her his elbow. Smiling, she shifted weapons into one hand and happily accompanied the young man to snacks.
The morning and afternoon rolled on, the Library group being given the barebones of the situation to keep them occupied. The three Reset participants eventually found themselves alone long enough to discuss a few things.
"Doyle, I think you, and especially Willow, might be becoming pre-Immortals," Xander remarked. Doyle looked blankly at him for a moment.
"So what does that really mean," the former teacher questioned, "And will it go away like the skills are starting to…" Dawn looked interested, and interrupted.
"We could do the spell on him!" she decided, "And he'd be like us when this is over." Doyle looked uncomfortable, and confused, which in Xander's mind seemed to lend credence to Doyle's proclaimed 'good-guy' status. That, and a tendency toward inaction and enjoying life rather than trying to really benefit from things.
"Doyle?" Xander asked, "What would you do if we knew in two weeks we'd simply not have a Reset and just keep going? What would you do?"
"Well, I'd be makin with some serious bettin," the Irishman considered, "And pay off me bills, bar tabs, loans from friends and bookies. And being all-human, then, I'd try to get back with my Harriet again if she'd have me. Buy the house and the whole deal and let her handle the purse strings so I wouldn't get to back-sliding. Though, with my recent experiences, I'd hope to find some fellers first who enjoyed the bettin' and the playing, but didn't have the gamblin addiction. I barely don't, and so far I'm good, but…if the memories and such don't last, eh? Though I guess with the sword thing, maybe I could lend you a hand until I got a job." The candor struck both Xander and Dawn quite solidly, and keeping in mind the need to offset any gambling addiction, both nodded as Xander decided.
"How would you like the memories, good and bad, skills and maybe the physical abilities to stay with you Alan?" the dark-haired man asked seriously, "We may not have really worked on leaving the Resets, but are quite able to take advantage of them. But a warning…I don't really know how to undo it once it's gone. And we have a couple of very simple rules: no sex or bad stuff with anybody we know, and preferably not at all, and try not to do anything to make you nonhuman. No offense"
"None taken, as I am trying to be all human when this is over," the Irishman replied, "I don't want to end up with blue fur or eight arms."
"So Mister Doyle," Xander smiled, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
"I'm thinking maybe an Immortal Poker Champion?" Doyle responded, "Or maybe one of those Jedi fellas? I could meditate out the gambling bug and just play in the big tournaments. How about the two of you?"
"I don't know that we've given it any specific thought, just adding to what we have and what seems to be needed," Xander admitted, "Maybe we should all take a few days and figure out what'd be good for us individually and then try to synch 'em up."
The man looked around, confused, as one moment he was talking to Socrates in San Francisco, then the next he was here, standing with Comet next to a masked man standing next to his white-colored horse. Before either had time to fully recover from the vertigo, a young woman, very well-muscled and carrying a pair of blacksmithing hammers came between them.
"Mister County," she addressed him uncertainly and in broken English, "Iz dat you?" He nodded, and she continued, "Goot, I am Katrina Schwenke, da Professor's friend, yes?" He looked at her uncertainly, but she did carry herself in much the same manner, "How am I in dis little body?"
"I don't rightly know, Miss Katrina, I—" he began, as a panicking redhead I clothes even more revealing than Dixie's raced up to them.
"Guys!" She gushed, "I'm glad I found you! Everything's gone crazy! The kids have turned into their Halloween costumes. Wow, Xan, you look great." The former-Xander felt somewhat uncomfortable at the way the young woman was suddenly looking at him, glad he was wearing the mask.
"Miss," the older-looking man interrupted, "What do you mean they turned into their costumes?" He stepped forward out into the light, and made no hostile moves, though mindful of the masked man.
"The monsters running around were children, now their demons, Mister?" she asked, not having met the person but briefly at the High School.
"County's fine man," he assured her, "And do you know how this came about?"
"No, just that one minute they were kids and the next, not?" she responded, then noticed that neither Dawn nor Xander seemed to know her, "Uh, guys, maybe we should go find Buffy?" They were about to ask more questions when a scream broke the night and a woman yelling for help ran roughly in their direction.
Brisco and the stranger both drew revolvers and prepared to use them as two tall deformed-face man-sized individuals and four smaller monsters closed on them and the terrorized girl.
"Don't shoot the little ones, I now their kids in there!" Willow shouted. Brisco changed tactics and raced flankingly toward the smaller aggressors as four shots rang out, striking the taller opponents in the upper chest, causing the beings to stop and scream, clutching at their chests. Writhing on the ground, the masked man ran up to them brought the butt of the revolver down twice into their foreheads, rendering them unconscious.
"That ought to keep them until the authorities can be alerted," the Ranger remarked to the amazed redhead. They looked up to see the blonde blacksmith woman thump two monsters in the heads hard enough to knock them out as Brisco County Jr. sent the others into flight from multiple kicks and punches. The shrieking blonde lunged and attached herself clinglingly to the lawman, sobbing and begging to be protected.
The masked man reloaded his revolver from the shining cartridges on his belt as he watched for more troublemakers and made his way over to the others. The blonde shifted behind the lawman, staring at the mask.
"Save me from this masked brigand!" she demanded in a high-pitched voice. County looked at her, then their recent ally, before asking.
"The mask is a bit of a question mark, you know," Brisco admitted, "Though I seem to remember something a while back about a 'Ranger' that wore a mask and achieved justice without crossing the line."
"I where this mask to protect my identity so those who know me will be safe," the man conceded, "And a few newspaper reporters have taken to referring to me as the Lone Ranger." Willow gasped as she realized for sure that she was the only unchanged person in the group, and as the conversation continued, wondered what other surprises the night would bring.
"We all need to go see Giles immediately," Willow declared, "He'll figure out what this is all abut if anyone can." They nodded, and began making their way in the direction Willow indicated.
Ten minutes passed, and they heard a scream and some swear words as down the street they watched a seven-foot tall furry thing chasing a girl in questionable attire. The masked man turned to Brisco.
"Take the ladies to this Giles on your horse," he said, "And I'll follow as soon as I get the girl." Brisco nodded, tossing a resistant Buffy onto the horse, mounting, the reaching down to pick up Willow. As they moved down the street, Willow looked back to see Xander, er the Lone Ranger, reach down and flip Cordelia onto the back of the horse, almost hearing the William Tell Overture start to play as she heard him shout, 'Hi Ho Silver…Away' and Cordelia's shriek as they raced to catch up.
"Er, uh, Xander," Giles began as they left Ethan's Shoppe, "How is it that the, er, Ranger's bullets were able to hurt the vampire's you encountered?"
"Not really sure," the young no longer masked man replied, "But it's probably because the silver was taken by shamen from the most sacred of sites in their holy mountain, where they've gone to commune and receiving blessings for centuries, then melted down to help the Ranger in his mission of Justice?"
"Hmm, blessed silver from a site that itself is and has been holy for centuries…" Giles pondered, "That could be why it at least hurt them long enough to render them unconscious. Hmm…I'll have to check my books…"